How to market to millennials

There are estimated to be a staggering 90 million millennials across the world (that is, those born during the tech revolution of anywhere between 1981 and 1996), making them a highly coveted market. And yet despite this, many companies fail to adequately target these young consumers correctly when it comes to their marketing techniques.

Speaking to a millennial agency, we take a look at some of the very best ways in which you can market to millennials.

Instagram

Using social media networks, focusing predominantly on Instagram, is one of your best bets when it comes to targeting this market. Research has shown that an estimated 60 percent of Instagram’s users are aged between 18 and 29, with at least 42 per cent of those visiting the site at least once each day.

The millennial demographic have learnt to avoid traditional advertising channels, and therefore marketing via social media is the way to go, as millennials tend to much more heavily rely on the endorsements of friends and family. You can also incentivise customers to share your product via their social media accounts which then allows you to also tap into their networks of friends and family.

Bright colours

Your marketing strategy needs to be colourful, which is more important than ever before when your advertising strategy when it comes to millennials is going to be heavily reliant on social media channels. If your product and advertisement is eye-catching, millennials will be keen to re-post your product on their accounts.

Language

Unsurprisingly, the language used for millennials is going to be far more colloquial, include street language and swearing more openly. Engaging with young people is key to understand which words are popular and which are not. Be careful here, since some are likely to have more than one meaning!

Experiential marketing

Another tactic you can use to grab the attention of millennials is using experiential marketing. If you aren’t already familiar with the term, this is a marketing technique that creates experiences between your brand and consumers, namely your target audience. Campaigns could include anything such as roadshows, festivals, PR stunts, partnerships, creative sampling and much more, but the main aim is to provide an opportunity to leave a long-lasting positive impression on millennials.

Influencers

Another excellent and effective way of targeting millennials is through connecting with influencers to advertise your product. More than any other age category, millennial are most directly connected to influencers due to their heavy use of social media channels and their mobile devices. Furthermore, this demographic tends to engage far more heavily with brands on social media too. According to Nielsen Research, influencers are extremely trusted by millennials, even more so than the brands they are representing (equating to over 92%). As a result, you should aim to focus on having the majority of your social media marketing campaign done through influencers themselves. As when you market to millennials directly is unlikely to cause your campaign harm, it is unlikely that you stand to gain as much as you would if you were to send the same message out via a popular influencer.